by Lucy Score
Everything was going according to plan, which made Gloria very, very nervous. She and her mom were front row at the curb so they could witness Harper’s first, triumphant finish in the Red, White, and Blue 5k. Her friend had been training with Aldo for weeks.
Gloria appreciated Harper’s ability to compartmentalize friendships. Aldo needed a friend right now, even if he had pissed Gloria off. And Gloria didn’t need her best friend constantly running her mouth about the man who’d gotten away. Harper respectfully didn’t discuss Aldo in more than broad, general statements.
That was how Gloria knew he’d be biking the 5k in a specially-designed bike. Also how she didn’t know how he felt about that. She was too busy to worry about it…mostly.
“Sit, Gloria. You’re acting like a nervous pigeon,” Sara teased, patting the chair next to her.
Technically, there was nothing more for her to do but sit back and enjoy the 5k and parade. Then she could frantically worry about the festival and fireworks.
She gave in to her already aching feet and sank down next to her mother.
“Good girl. Your friend Harper. She’s running?” Sara asked.
“Yeah, she’s been training hard,” Gloria said with a smile, remembering last week when Harper had shown up on her doorstep sweaty and thirsty. “Lemonade me, for the love of God!” she’d begged.
Having a friend—a best friend—was a constant reminder that her life was completely different than it had been at the beginning of the year. Harper was one for the record books. After her crying jag the other night, Harper had not only met Luke’s ex-mother-in-law, Joni, but befriended her. Joni had all but disappeared from Benevolence life after her daughter’s accident. Seeing her with Harper gave Gloria a newfound faith in healing.
Perhaps there was hope for them all.
She very purposefully shoved Aldo from her thoughts.
“Hey, do you guys mind some company?” Sophie with Claire, Charlie, and little Josh in tow ambled down the sidewalk.
And just like that, Gloria was surrounded by friends, co-workers, and family. She’d never felt less alone in her life.
37
He felt like a circus freak. The one-legged “hometown hero” on his goddamn hand cycle. It was like an adult version of a tricycle. And Aldo was the overgrown man-child in its seat. In his recumbent position, he only came up to Harper’s torso as she nervously stretched next to him.
He didn’t like being eye-level with the crowd. It made him feel small, different.
But it was the only way his doctors would give permission for his participation in the Red, White, and Blue 5k.
So, he sucked it up…mostly.
“I’m going to puke,” Harper whispered, leaning down to stretch her hamstrings for the 400th time.
“If you puke on me, I’m going to run you over with this stupid tricycle,” Aldo threatened.
She sucked in a nervous breath, and he took pity on her.
“Harpist, you’re going to be fine. It’s three miles. It’ll be done and over with before you know it.”
“I wish Luke was here,” she confessed.
Aldo reached for her hand, gave it a bone-crushing squeeze. “Me, too. But right now you’re stuck with me, and you’re not allowed to humiliate me. On second thought, puke all over the place. The more flailing and sobbing you do, the fewer people will stare at my circus act.”
“Oh, shut up, man-beast. If you don’t want people looking at your stupid bike and your dumb bionic leg, take your shirt off and flex your pecs.”
On the surface, he was smirking, but underneath he was scared shitless. This was his chance to prove to himself and the rest of the damn town that he was still a force to be reckoned with.
“Ugh. I’m so nervous,” Harper said, patting a hand to her chest. “Is it normal to be nervous?”
“It’s not nerves. It’s excitement.” It was all a matter of perspective.
A guy weaved his way through the crowd to Aldo, offering his hand and a friendly “thanks for your service.”
Aldo shook hands and nodded politely. He’d been inundated with thanks and well wishes since rolling up to the start line. It was overwhelming and embarrassing.
He’d never minded being the center of attention before. But now that it was for missing a fucking limb, he wasn’t much of a fan. Today that would change. Hopefully. Today was the first step in proving that he was still a damn man, and if he could prove that to himself, step two might be getting Gloria to forgive his dumb ass. She’d stood up for herself, to him. He’d never in his life set out to be that guy. Amputation or not, he needed to find the strength to fight the slide into asshole territory.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for our National Anthem, sung by Peggy Anne Marsico.”
Aldo climbed off the bike and stood at attention in a military salute.
He’d pledged life and literal limb for his country. And right now, surrounded by an ocean of his neighbors in red, white, and blue, he felt a shaky kind of pride. He’d made the promise, and yes, he hadn’t really fully grasped what that sacrifice would feel like, what the reality of it would be. But he’d made the promise, and he’d lived up to it. That was something to be proud of.
It felt damn good to have an inch or two of his soul make room for something good and bright.
The race kicked off in style with Ty in his deputy uniform firing a blank into the air.
Aldo felt the familiar rush of adrenaline and basked in it. And then remembered it was his hands and not his feet that he had to move. Slowly, he and Harper lumbered off the starting line. The crowd thinned quickly with the sprinters—his former place of glory—taking off like greyhounds on the chase.
Aldo cursed his pedals and tried to keep pace with Harper who still looked a little green around the gills.
“Just relax into it,” he coached her. “We’re just out here going for a nice quiet jog-slash-pedal in front of the entire town.”
She snorted, but her feet picked up the pace a bit, a look of determination on her pretty face.
“Good job. Way to not suck,” he told her.
“Shut up, man-beast.”
“Oh my God. I’m dying. Aldo, I’m dying,” Harper gasped.
“If you couldn’t talk, I’d be concerned.”
“You’re not even out of breath,” she muttered.
He flashed her a grin. He was Aldo “Fucking” Moretta. He didn’t get out of breath…or at least he did everything to hide it. “You’re fine. You’ve got a great pace.” He waved from his bike at a group of kids cheering from the end of their driveway. Almost the entire course had been lined with Benevolence residents. It was the best turn out he could remember for a race he’d been running since high school. Everyone seemed to be in the spirit.
“Where’s your mom?” Harper asked, pointing ahead at his mother’s yard and the end of the block.
“Finish line probably,” he told her. It was closer to the start of the parade, and Ina Moretta had an entire parade candy strategy honed from years of literally stealing candy from babies.
“How much farther?” Harper moaned. “I don’t think I’m going to make it. Maybe I’ll just wait here. You can come back and pick me up.”
“Don’t be so dramatic. Do you hear the yelling?”
“I can barely hear anything over the wheezing of my lungs.”
“That’s the finish line.”
“Are you kidding? We’re almost done?”
“Half mile to go.”
“Seriously?” Harper perked up. “I think I can run that.”
“I know you can. And so can I.” He pulled the cycle into his mother’s driveway.
Harper used the pause to bend at the waist and suck in air like a vacuum cleaner. “Aldo—”
He carefully stood, reaching down to adjust his blade. “Before you even start, I cleared it with Steers. A half mile at a slow jog. Are you up for that? We’re not stopping until the finish line.”
Her face lit up,
and he knew there would be no stopping Harper Wilde on the final leg of their journey together. “Let’s do it!”
They left the driveway at an easy jog and rejoined the race. Aldo’s gait felt smooth on the fiber carbon running blade. It was his new toy. One that took him one step closer to the man he used to be.
He wanted to push. To sprint. To find his limits. But he owed the woman next to him a buddy finish. Harper had helped drag him from the darkest of the depression. Now that he could stand—hell, jog—on his own two feet, he could start making some changes.
“You make this look so easy,” Harper puffed beside him.
“Believe me, it’s anything but easy. But it’s necessary.”
They rounded the next corner together, and the noise level exploded. The finish line was only two blocks away, a straight shot down Main Street Benevolence. And the crowd was pulsing with good-natured pandemonium.
“They must think you’re some kind of hero around here,” Harper teased.
Aldo shot her a cocky grin. He was home. He was back.
He saw her, and his stride faltered for a second. Gloria in her little white shorts and that cute blue tank. Her dark hair pulled back under a red bandana headband. She looked like everything he believed in, everything he’d signed up to fight for, to protect.
She was on her feet cheering. Sure, it was probably for Harper or any other runner in this race, but he wanted to think it was for him. He wanted her in his corner. And if he could do this, if, he could finish this half mile strong, then he could make it a mile and then five. And then he could walk up to Gloria Parker and sweep her off her tiny feet.
The finish line banner loomed before them, and Aldo grabbed Harper’s wrist, raising their joined hands high as they crossed the sidewalk chalk checkerboard line.
They’d done it. And it felt damn good.
Harper whooped in celebration. Two older veterans in their dress uniforms stepped in front of them with race medals in hand.
The two men, well into their seventies, snapped to attention and saluted Aldo.
“Thank you for your service, lieutenant,” one of them said.
Aldo saluted them back and accepted the medal. His throat felt tight with emotion.
“And here’s one for you, young lady,” the shorter of the two men said placing a medal around Harper’s neck.
Tickled, she leaned over and pressed an enthusiastic kiss to his cheek. “Thank you!”
“Luke is going to kick my ass if he sees I let you cast him aside for another soldier,” Aldo teased, dragging her toward the water station.
They were intercepted by his mother and the entire Garrison clan.
Congratulations were doled out along with bottles of water and bananas. Aldo was searching the crowd for Gloria when Josh, Sophie and Ty’s toddler, threw himself into his arms. Aldo swept him up.
“You sweaty, too!” Josh crowed, patting Aldo’s damp face.
“When are you gonna run a race, buddy?” Aldo asked him.
“I wanna be fast like you!” Josh pumped his arms back and forth. “Fast fast fast!”
Aldo chuckled. It was at that moment he spotted Gloria through the crowd. He set Josh on his feet. “Go find your mom and make sure you get a good spot for the parade, okay?”
“Okay!” Josh took off in the direction of Sophie yelling, “Caaaaaaaandy!”
Man up, Moretta, he told himself.
One look at Gloria in her red, white, and blue, and he was toast. Burnt, crispy, throw-him-in-the-trash toast. He’d worked hard these last few weeks, talking himself into accepting the fact that he and Gloria were over before they’d begun. That the timing and circumstances were proof that they weren’t meant to be.
But now?
A half mile was nothing to some men. To Aldo today, it was the world.
And now it was time to take his next step.
38
“Here they come!” Sophie shrieked in Gloria’s ear and took off toward the finish line with her phone set to record.
Gloria jumped to her feet to watch Harper round the corner onto Main Street, her cheeks flushed with exertion, her ponytail swinging rhythmically. The cheer Gloria had ready died in her throat when she saw the man next to her.
Aldo Moretta paced Harper on a gleaming running blade. He was sweating through his National Guard tank and grinning like a madman. He was running. On his own two legs.
Emotions hit her in a tidal wave. Pride and longing and that low-level anger stewed in her blood. He was magnificent. The entire crowd was on their feet, screaming their heads off as he and Harper loped toward the finish line.
Claire, tears streaming down her face, hollered at the duo. Charlie, always the quiet one, swallowed hard and clapped.
They hit the finish line together to raucous cheers.
Gloria lost sight of them as half of the crowd spilled off the curb into the finish zone for congratulations. Runners were still finishing, neighbors still cheering. And Gloria was surprised to find a stray tear tracking down her cheeks.
That running fool looked more like the old Aldo than the man who’d come home in his place.
“Go give your congratulations,” Sara said, reading her like a pop-up children’s book.
Gloria nodded, not trusting her voice.
She found Harper sitting on the curb, sucking down water.
“Hey, Harper! That was some finish.” Gloria called.
Harper, face flushed with exertion and victory, grinned. “You look gorgeous! I’d hug you, but I’d ruin your cute outfit.”
Gloria laughed. “You can hug me after you shower. I wanted to see if everyone wanted to sit with me at the parade? You can’t beat the seats.” She pointed back to her front steps. “The parade goes right past.”
Harper’s eyes lit up at the idea of not having to walk any farther. “That would be great, thanks! What time does it start?”
“It starts after the last finisher of the 5k. They call it leading the parade,” Gloria explained.
“Do you have room for one more? Maybe two? My mom’s a sucker for parade candy.”
Gloria jumped at the sound of Aldo’s voice. Was he talking to her? She turned around slowly and felt her eyes pop out of her head.
He’d taken off his shirt and stood on the sidewalk in all his ripped, sweaty glory. She’d never seen a man look sexier or stronger. If she kept staring at him, she was going to pass out.
“Hi, Aldo,” she said politely through her tight throat.
“Hi, Gloria. You look beautiful and festive.”
She blinked, wondering if this really was Old Aldo that she was staring at. Or if New Aldo was playing a game. “Thank you. You look…good.” Understatement of the year. But it was all he was getting from her.
He grinned, and her knees nearly gave out. “Do you mind if I join you for the parade?”
Gloria breathed in a little too sharply and choked on her own spit. She covered it with a cough. “Sure, I mean. Not at all. The more the merrier.” No! Why was she saying that? She would be perfectly within her rights to figuratively kick him to the curb. Or off of it.
“Great. See you soon.” He walked off.
It took Gloria a full ten seconds to notice she was fanning herself. “Oh my. What just happened? Did I pass out?”
Harper laughed and dragged herself to a standing position, delight written all over her flushed face. “I think this is Aldo coming around and pulling out all the stops. Prepare to be swept off your feet.”
“I don’t think I’m ready for that. Can’t he just say hello to me once a week for a year or so until I get used to looking at him?”
“I don’t think that’s how he works. You’ll be married in no time,” Harper predicted.
“You’re such a weirdo.”
“You love me,” Harper countered.
“Yeah, maybe.” Gloria was still staring at the crowd where Aldo had disappeared.
She felt the weight of a stare and turned to face her mother.
<
br /> Sara’s eyebrows were an inch higher than usual. “And what do you want to say about that?” Sara asked quietly, nodding her head in the direction Aldo had gone.
“About what?” Gloria asked innocently.
“I might be your mother, but I am a woman first. I recognize that look. The handsome, sweaty athlete likes you.”
Gloria laughed. “Yeah, he likes me today, and then tomorrow he’ll be back to pretending I don’t exist.”
“Maybe he needs a good woman to help him find his way,” Sara suggested pointedly.
“After the mess I just got out of, you want me to go running after another man?” Gloria rolled her eyes.
“Mija, if you don’t run after that man, I’m going to check you for a pulse.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “I don’t see you putting yourself out there into the dating world.”
“If it convinces you to spend some time getting to know that man biblically, I will find a date.” Sara started scanning the crowd as if looking for an appropriate man. Gloria didn’t doubt her mother’s ability to snag a date on the street. She was beautiful, confident, and a smokey-eyed Latina. Basically irresistible.
“Mama! I might be ready for some biblical action. But I’m not sure if I’m ready to forgive him for acting like an ass. If I was ready, I don’t know if he’s ready to be what I want.”
Sara’s smile was bright. “I have great hopes for your future, Gloria. You’re a smart girl. A strong girl. Maybe you’ll have a little fun figuring things out.”
A little fun. Gloria wasn’t certain she remembered what that was. Sure she’d discovered how much she enjoyed hard work. But fun? And there was the fact that Aldo still owed her an explanation and an apology.
“Hey, Gloria, we’ve got a snafu with the entertainment tonight,” Ricky Lesser called to her, waving the microphone she’d personally tested this morning.
Crap.
Not only did she have to make sure the rest of the day went perfectly, she also had to decide if she was going to give Aldo Moretta a toehold in her life.